Double-seaming and vacuumizing machine.



L. WURZBURG.

DOUBLE SEAMING AND VAGUUM IZING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 25, 1908.

1,028,652. Patented June 4, 1912.

a SHEETS-SHEET 1.

WITNESSES C% INVENTOR C%M BY v M I I 3' M9407 i ATTORNEY L. WURZBURG.-

DOUBLE SEAMING AND VAOUUMIZING MACHINE.

APPLIOATION FILED SEPT. 25, 1908.

Patented June 4, 1912.

s SHEETS-SHEET a.

wnmzsses INVESTOR] v LUDWIG- WUBZBUBG, OF SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIL.

DOUBLE-SEWING AND VACUUMIZING MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent,

Patented June 4, 1912.

Application filed September 25, 1908. Serial No. 454,811.

chine shall be simple and of great capacityin proportion to its size; second, to provide a machine of this character, which will not only effect the above operation of doubleseaming the top to the can, but, while so doing, will also vacuumize the can, thus forming a perfect indication that the can has been hermetically sealed.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l is a-broken plan View of the machine; Fig. 2 is a vertical section diametral through the vacuumizing and seaming chambers; Fig. 3 is a detail perspective view of a can holder; Fig. 4 is'a broken detail plan view' of the same and a portion of the delivery valve; Fig. 5 is a vertical section through one of the pockets; Fig. 6 is a side view; Fig. 7 is an enlarged section of the feeding apparatus.

General arrangement. 1 indicates the casing ofa double-seaming chamber 2, mounted on legs 3, 4 indicates a vacuumizing .chamber, and 5 a discharge chamber. By means to be presently described, the cans 26 and tops 99 are fed into the vacuumizing chamber, and therein the air is exhausted.

from the can. The can with a top thereon is then delivered to the seaming chamber, where it is double-seamed, while a'vacuum is maintained therein. From the seaming chamber it is transferred to the discharge chamber, by means of which it is discharged on to a suitable belt. Means are also provided for preventlng the admission of air from the discharge chamber into the seaming chamber.

F eedz'ng.The cans are fed upon the upper portion of an endless traveling. belt 6, and the tops are supplied upon the upper surface of the lower portion of an endless traveling belt 7 ,lying immediately-over the endless belt '6. The belt 6 which carries the cans returns underneath, while the belt wheel 93 on a shaft 18 to be presently de by a gear wheel 92 meshing with a gear scribed, and upon saidsha'ft 10 are secured I upper and lower rotary transferrers 11, .12, each formed with three fingers 13, 14, respectively, adapted to respectively pass over the lower portion of the upper belt 7 and the upper portion of the lower belt 6 and thus to engage the tops and cans on said belts. Therefore, with each movement through one-third of a revolution of the transferrer shaft, a canand a top aredisplaced from the belts, and are moved through an opening 15 in the wall of the vacuumizing chamber, into one of a circular series of pockets 16 formed in a rotary valve 17 mounted upon a vertical shaft 18, rotated by means to be presently described. The gear wheel 92 has a diameter one-half of that'of the gear wheel 93, and the valve 17 and the transferrers are so related that, at the time the fingers 13, 14 are actuated to "shift a can and its top toward'the valve, a pocket 16 in the valve has arrived at the proper position "to receive such-acan and top. The top so transferred falls from the belt 7 on to the top of the can in saidpocket, as shown in Fig. 6.

Vacuumizz'ng. -The valve 17 fits snugly within the caslng of the vacuumizing cham- .as. shown at 25, spaced on each side from the remainder of the valve to permit of the entry thereinto of the arms of the can holder 23 hereinafter described. In the inner surface of the wall of the vacuumizing chamber'is formed a circumferential groove 21 which is connected by a pipe 19 with an exhaust pump 20. Said groove extends C11- cumferentially in said wall only between points each of which could not be connected by any one of the pockets either with" the external atmosphere or with the double. seaming chamber. The object-of the groove is to continue the connection between the exhaust pump and pocket for a considerable ,portion 28 of a carrier hereinafter described,

so that .the valve rotates in unison with the carrier. At the back of each pocket the valve is" formed with a recess containing a coiled spring 22, which, when a pocket arrives at th'eopening in the valve casing, projects the can radially outward.

Gan carrien-JVhen a can with the .top thereon is projected by its spring into the double-seaming cnamber it is pushed on to a semi-annular holder 23 on a vertically movable bar 54 carried by the main central portion of a rotary carrier 24, which holder is of such form as to be able to mesh with the tooth-shaped projection 25 of the valve as said valve and the carrier rotate close to each other. The can holder is slightly higher than the rojection 25 and its arms- .have beveled en s to raise the can, so that it no longer rests upon the projection 25 but upon the can holder, and revolves therewith. Said carrier 24 has a tubular lower portion 28 which passes through a bearing 27 formed in the bottom of the casing of the double-seaming chamber and has an annular shoulder 29 resting on said bearing.

Through said tubular lowerend 28 passes a shaft 30 the upper end of which rotates in a bearing 31 formed on'the cover of the double-seaming chamber, and the upper portion 32 of the carrier rotates around said bearing. Said upper and lower 28,- are preferably made dtac extending arms 34, 35. Said arms form bearings for upper and lower spindle shafts 36, 37. The upper shafts 36 carry heads 38 'and are rigidly connected to pinions 39 which rotate in recesses in the upper arms 34 .while the lower spindle shafts 37 can slide vertically in theirbearings in the lower arms 35,- being. formed with gr'oovs40 which are engaged by keys 41 on pinions 42 contained in recesses 1n said lowerarms. Said upper and lower pinions 39, 42 are engaged by gear wheels 43. 44, mounted, upon the 1 central shaft 30. Said central shaft andthe. carrier are driven bybevel gears 45., 46,

which are driven .by-bevel pinions 47, 48, on a transverse. shaft 49 driven'fromany source of power. Each lower spindle shaft 37 carries a head 50 which is'adapted to engagethe bottom of the can, and said shaft fiis formed-with'a circumferential groove-"51' which is engaged by a fork 52 secured to an arm 53 extending outwardly from the lower ortions 32, liable fromthe'main portion, which comprises a cylindrical hub-shaped part 33,'- '-and a suitable 1 number,-as six of upper and lower radially end of a vertical bar 54 which is formed' with a T-shaped extension 55, the'cross mem- 'ber 56 of whlch slides 111 a groove 57 formed upon the outside of the hub 33 of the carrier by securing plates 58 thereon (Fig. 4). This vertical bar 54 carries both the support 23 on to which the can is delivered, and also at its upper end a semi-annular guide 59 which guides and maintains the can top in position upon the top of the can when the can slides into position upon the support 23,and also assist in guiding the can when discharging it. The bar 54 also carries two forks or yokes 60 which engage the inner side of the can to arrest the can and center it when delivered on to the holder. They also assist in carrying away the can from the delivery valve.

Double seaming.-As the carrier rotates, each can thereby carried away from the vacuumizing chamber is raised by means of a cam rail 61 which engages the lower.

end ofthe spindle shaft 37, andbyj an incline thereon raises 'said shaft until the top of the can is engaged by the head 38 of the upper spindle shaft 36. Thereby the can is firmly clamped between the head 38 and the head 50,and, by the rotation imparted to the two spindle shafts, the can is correspondingly rotated. It is now, in the rotation of the carrier, brought to such position that the edge of the can top is engaged by a roughing roller 70. Said roughing roller and also a finishing roller '71 are carried by horizontal slide plates 72, 73, which slide in a radial direction ina tool holder 74 formed upon the'corresponding arm-of the carrier. Each slide plate is normally pressed radially outward by .a coiled spring 75 in a recess in the tool holder,

and attached at one end to a pin 76. depending from the slide plate. The slide-plates at their outer ends carry anti-friction rollers 77,78, which are adapted to abut against cam rails80, 79, lyingin different horizon-' tal p1anes,'the roughing and finishing rollers "themselves lying in the'same horizontal plane. The roughing roller is first pressed.

inward by'the cam rail 80, and then the finishing roller is pressed inward .by the cam rail-=79. During the time that the can is being seamed,-vacu um is maintained in the seaming chamber by means of a" ,pipe-81 leading to .a second vacuum pump 82 operated independently of the first pump. By

' this arrangement there is avoided any variation of the pressure in the seaming chamber which would otherwise be caused by the successive introduction of fresh cans thereinto, as the cans before being introduced into the seaming chamber have been sufliciently exhausted of air in the vacuumizing chamber; Discharge.

leaves thesecond cam rail, and the top has er the; finishing roller thus been double seamed upon the can, the can is engaged by an oblique or intersecting stationary cam rail 84, which causes said can to enter one of three pockets 85 in arotary discharge valve 86 in a discharge chamber 5. Said valve is driven by a gear wheel 95 on its shaft which'meshes with an intermediate gear wheel 96 which in turn meshes with the gear wheel 94', The wheels 95 and 96 being of half the diameter of the gear wheel 94, the valve 86 is rotated at twice the angular'velocity of the carrier and of the valve in the vacuumizing chamber. By this valve 86 the can is carried to a position over a belt 87 at which point the casing of the chamber is open, as shown, at 88, to permit the can to be discharged radially outward, which is immediately done by means of a spring 89 at the back of the pocket in the discharge valve; In order that no free air may be carried into the seaming chamber by the discharge valve in its rotation, each pocket, after discharging the can on to the discharging belt, is exhausted of free air by means of a pipe 90-connected with the first vacuum pump, and to insure effective exhaust from said pockets, there is formed in the inner surface of the casing of the discharge chamber a groove 91 extending around the same for a suflicient length to permit of exhausting the air from a pocket, while the valve is rotating through a considerable angular distance.

I claim i 1. In a-continuous rotary double seaming machine, the combination with a continuously' rotating carrier having a plurality of can body receiving pockets, of aplurality of axially rotatable can holder chucks mounted on said carrier, a plurality of sets of double seaming rollers mounted on said carrier, and direct pressure means for actuating said seaming rollers as the carrier rotates, an external annular gear for rotating said carrier, a central driving shaft extending axially through said rotary carrier, and connecting gearing for communicating motion from said central driving shaft to said annular external gear on the carrier, substantially as specified.

2. An apparatus of the character described, havin a chamber, means for exhausting air rom said chamber, a rotary can carrier in said chamber, means for rotating said carrier, means for, introducing cans in succession into said chamber while main- 3. In a vacuumizing and double seaming machine, the combination of a seaming. chamber, a vacuumizing chamber, means for feeding a can to said vacuumizing chamber, mechanism for feeding said can from said vacuumizing chamber to said seaming chamber, provided with means for pr eventing the passage of free air through said vacuumizing chamber to said seaming chamber, means in the latter chamber for seaming the can, means for producing a vacuum in the vacuumizing chamber, and means for maintaining the vacuum in the seaming chamber, substantially as described.

4. In a vacuumizing and seaming machine, the combination of a vacuumizing chamber, means for feeding cans and tops thereinto, and for depositing the tops upon the cans, means for producing a vacuum therein, a seaming chamber, means for maintaining a vacuum therein, mechanism for transporting a can with the top thereon from said vacuumizingv to said seaming chamber, said mechanism being provided with means for preventing the passage of free airthrough the vacuumizing chamber to the seaming chamber, and means in said latter chamber for seaming the tops upon the cans therein, substantially as described.

5. In a vacuumizing and seaming machine, the combination of a. vacuumizing chamber, means for roducing a vacuum therein, means for feec ing cans thereinto in succession, a seaming chamber, means for maintaining a vacuum therein, means for introducing tops into the seaming chamber, mechanism for transporting the cans in succession' from the vacuumizing into the seaming chamber, said mechanism being provided with means for preventing the passage of free air through said vacuumizing into the seaming chamber, and means in said.seaming chamber for seaming the tops upon the cans, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

LUDWIG WURZBURG, VVit-nesses: v

F. M. WRIGHT, D. B. RICHARDS. 

